Symposium captures protesters’ attention

AUSTRALIA’S energy future was under debate in Torquay on Monday this week, with a carbon capture and storage (CCS) conference inside and protesters gathering outside.

About 50 people brought banners and listened to speeches on the grounds outside the RACV Torquay Resort, which was hosting a symposium by CCS research organisation CO2CRC.

Attendees at the protest – which was prevented from going inside the grounds of the resort by a line of police – included members of Surfrider Foundation Australia, OCEAN (Otway Climate Emergency Action Network), Extinction Rebellion, Surfers for Climate and Fridays for Future.

Opponents to CCS argue Australian governments should not invest in the technology as it is highly expensive, has not been demonstrated to work at scale anywhere in the world, and is only being promoted by the gas industry so gas reserves can continue to be developed and is thus inconsistent with the global trend towards decarbonisation.

They also argue CCS only captures emissions on site, which are a small fraction of the total emissions generated when the gas is later burned.

OCEAN member and Apollo Bay resident Nicola Philp said there was a carbon capture facility already in operation near Port Campbell.

“The research at the Otway Test Centre is enabling the gas industry to exploit reserves that may otherwise be deemed unsuitable due to their high CO2 content. How is that helping our net zero target?”

Surfrider Australia chair Sean Doherty said the global oil and gas industry had pulled “trillions of dollars out of the ground”.

“It’s phenomenally profitable and for one main reason – they’ve been allowed to pollute for free. They’ve been able to treat the atmosphere like an open sewer and none of that has ever appeared as an externality on a balance sheet. That’s changing. The world won’t allow that any more.

“So, what do they do? They come up with a brilliant plan. They’ll not only get paid to pull carbon from the ground, they’re trying to get paid for shoving it back in. Audacious, brilliant, and you’d have to admire it if it wasn’t killing the planet … the even more audacious part is that we’ll be paying for it.”

The groups said they were not opposed to CCS research and development in fields such as agriculture.

Protestors said Santos, Woodside, Chevron, Coal Innovation NSW and J-Power were represented at the forum, but a CO2CRC spokesperson would not confirm this.

“CO2CRC take a technology neutral approach to reduce CO2 emissions from the atmosphere and explore many technologies,” the spokesperson said.

“Carbon capture, utilisation and storage is a proven and essential technology. The International Energy Agency clearly states that reaching net zero is ‘virtually impossible’ without CCUS. There are currently 27 operating CCUS projects globally, with another 102 in development.

“Carbon storage is immediate and permanent. The geological storage of carbon dioxide provides emission reduction at significant scale, that is stored permanently with immediate effect.”